(This is NOT a political post. Please avoid commenting on anything political. I want to keep it under travel/recreation. Thanks!)

Let me first say that I’m very nostalgic when it comes to Disneyland and usually not a fan of changing attractions. I grew up going there with my family several times throughout my childhood and continue to go every few years with my family. So, from a strictly nostalgic prospective, I’d prefer that it stays the same theme. At the same time, while it will be somewhat sad to see such an iconic Disneyland attraction change, the more I've thought about it, the more understanding I've come to and actually excited for the changes and here's why.

1. Splash Mountain was loosely based on the movie, Song of the South. From what I’ve read online about the movie, it was racially insensitive in its portrayal of black people. I won’t get into specifics, for many reasons, but it was probably a good idea for Disney to distance themselves from the movie.

2. I think it will be a welcomed change to bring in a movie that is focused on a strong, black female character. Image the young black girls walking around Disneyland and not having an attraction with a character that represents their race. The change essentially makes the attraction and Disneyland more inclusive.

3. Re-theming (or re-skinning) of attractions is nothing new to Disney Parks and serious discussions about retheming Splash Mountain had been in the works for awhile. Over the years, several rides at Disneyland and California Adventures have been re-themed. The Submarine attraction was re-themed in 2007 to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse was rethemed in 1999 to Tarzan’s Treehouse. In Disneyland California Adventures, Tower of Terror was closed in 2017 to be rethemed as Guardians of Galaxy: Mission Breakout. Finally, Bug’s Land was completely torn down and is currently being replaced with Avenger’s Campus. So, it shouldn’t be such a huge shock that Disney would retheme an attraction where the characters are from a movie that was released over 70 years ago. Thankfully, it will be the exact same ride structure and all of the other experiences but just re-themed. Walt Disney was a fan of change (or what he called "plussing") to the park and attractions and wanted to keep things fresh for guests to keep them coming back for more.

4. Along with the announcement, it was confirmed that retired Imagineer, Tony Baxter, would be a creative advisor on the retheme. If you don’t know who he is, he is a Disney legend and was directly responsible for wildly successful attractions at Disneyland such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, as well the retheming of the Submarine Voyage to Finding Nemo’s Voyage and the update of Fantasyland in 1983. He’s coming out of retirement to put his fingerprint on this new project and I trust his creative genius.

5. The attraction opened in 1989…that’s over 30 years ago. Regardless of the theme and the amazing job they did, the technology needed an update. In the last 30 years, the technology of animatronics, sound, and lighting has advanced significantly. If you haven’t seen some of the new animatronic technology the Disney is working on, Google Beauty and the Beast attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. Also, looking at the concept art, they will be doing quite a bit to the outside of the mountain and I imagine it’s going to look fantastic at night which will probably include some form of lighting for the fireflies. I imagine they have a pretty good budget for this so I’m expecting for some cool tech.

6. Finally, it’s something new at Disneyland to look forward to and that’s always fun. According to the press release, the attraction will pick up where the movie left off, so it won’t be just a rehashed book report attraction.

With that said, Splash Mountain is fun ride that I have many memories from but it's not even in my top 10 favorite rides between both parks so I'm not complaining too much anyway. This is mostly because of how wet you can get on the ride. I kind of hope they will change this part of the ride...at least a little.

I do hope, however, that they keep at least keep the word “Mountain” in the renaming of the ride.